Last 3 months headlines – Page 1232
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PC renewal system working ‘quite well’ after initial bug
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has admitted that a software bug caused the ‘volume issues’ that prevented some solicitors from renewing their practising certificates through the mySRA website last week. The regulator said that the problem had been resolved and that extra capacity will be added to ...
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Which? welcomes new civil court powers
Consumer charity Which? has welcomed government proposals to give courts new powers to provide redress for consumers. Executive director Richard Lloyd said plans outlined in a consultation on civil enforcement remedies ‘should help ensure consumers are no longer left out of pocket if they ...
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Private equity fund takes stake in Keoghs
Regional firm Keoghs has secured a ‘significant investment’ from a private equity investor following approval as an alternative business structure this week. Mayfair-based LDC, part of the Lloyds Banking Group, is to buy a 22.5% share in the firm in a deal that will formally complete ...
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‘Please try again later’ SRA tells online renewal applicants
The Solicitors Regulation Authority says it is working to address ‘volume issues’ experienced by some solicitors trying to renew their practising certificates through the mySRA website. This year’s registration process began only yesterday, but some solicitors have already reported to the Gazette that the website is ...
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Company service business takes ABS route
Legal Clarity, a Birmingham-based business offering drafting and company secretarial services to ‘accountants, solicitors and entrepreneurs’, is one of the latest batch of organisations to win approval as an alternative business structure (ABS). It said registration, which became effective on 1 November, would allow ...
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Extradition
European arrest warrant – Respondent judicial authority issuing warrant Nikitins v Presecutor General's Office, Republic of Latvia: Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court (London) (Mr Justice Ouseley): 25 July 2012 The ...
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Employment
Holidays with pay – Employee airline pilots only receiving basic salary by way of remuneration for annual leave British Airways Plc v Williams and others: Supreme Court (Lords Hope DP, Walker, Mance, Clarke and Sumption SCJJ): 17 October 2012 ...
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Information demands lay siege to confidentiality
Futurologists of the legal profession concentrate chiefly on the impact of technology and alternative structures when predicting what will happen next. There is an assumption that the activities of lawyers will continue as before, but delivered in a new way. However, I want to describe another trend which is beginning ...
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‘Diplomates’ fuel surplus debate
In his letter to the Gazette, Ben Hope was quite right to say that it is very difficult for ‘diplomates’ – those who have gained the diploma in legal practice – to obtain training contracts. Unfortunately, he confuses matters by calling them ‘law graduates’ and goes on to argue that ...
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Demolition of the welfare state
I write in connection with your interview with shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan. It is a shame that he failed to mention the impact of the impending legal aid cuts on our migrant communities and foreign nationals within the UK prison system.
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How to avoid a court crash
All practitioners in family law will recognise the scene: it is 9.45am and already the small waiting room in the county court is heaving with barristers, solicitors and parties to the proceedings. Often the morning session blurs into the afternoon and ‘justice’ is not swift. What ...
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Low legal aid fee ‘scandalous’
Karen Todner is right to be concerned for the future of publicly funded criminal defence firms. My firm recently represented a 13-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder. A qualified solicitor spent nine hours and 42 minutes on a Friday evening and Saturday advising him, with ...
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The need to protect privacy
Serious public interest issues have been played out in the court and the media over the past few months. I write, of course, about the royal buttocks of Prince Harry, the regal breasts of his sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge and the extra-marital activities of the former England football manager ...
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Commercial property
The report of E.ON UK plc v Gilesports Limited [2012] EWHC 2172 bears reading because there are a number of interesting points, but in this article I will focus on only one – how long is a reasonable time to consent to an assignment?
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London care pilot to make £1m saving
A pilot to speed up care cases has more than halved the time taken to resolve matters and is on track to save the public purse £1m a year. In April, three London boroughs – Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham – began ...
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US plea to curb third-party funding
A US lobby group has called for immediate government regulation of third-party litigation funding. The increasing influence of third-party funders has caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. Both the US, and England and Wales, currently have voluntary regulation, but there have been repeated calls ...
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Divorce ruling branded ‘cheat’s charter’
Lawyers have branded as a ‘cheat’s charter’ a Court of Appeal landmark ruling that an oil tycoon need not hand over to his wife £17.5m in assets held by his companies. In Petrodel Resources Ltd & Ors v Prest & Ors [2012] EWCA Civ 1395 the ...
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Goldsmith warning on confidentiality
Lawyer-client confidentiality is under authoritarian attack on several fronts, threatening the future of the profession, the secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe has warned.
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Aftermath of panel reviews
It is said that there are more questions on the application form to be a member of a lender’s conveyancing panel than there are to join MI5. Whether or not that is true, it is clear that if you want to do a good job for your homebuying clients, and ...